The Portrait Artist

Blurb

One morning in 1890, a painting wrapped in brown paper appears on the steps of the National Gallery and causes a sensation. It’s clearly by Timothy Ponden-Hall, an artist whose paintings were famous, controversial, debated not just for their beauty but for the story behind them: they were believed to immortalise the soul of the subject. But the mysterious explorer and artist has been thought dead for the last 50 years – so what does this new portrait mean? The Gallery brings in renowned art historian and Ponden-Hall expert Solomon Oak to investigate, but as he races against time to uncover the truth, he discovers that exposing Ponden-Hall’s legacy will prove more controversial than he could have imagined for Victorian society.